https://techsparx.com/index.htmlRSS for NodeFri, 16 Nov 2018 04:59:45 GMTFri, 16 Nov 2018 04:59:45 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/air-quality-monitoring.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/air-quality-monitoring.htmlFri, 16 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/ghetto-air-filter.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/ghetto-air-filter.htmlFri, 16 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMTUserTesting is a leading service for companies hoping to evaluate their website user experience. User experience testing is about validating -- as the phrase suggests -- the user of a product or service has a good experience, or not. What UserTesting does is to match up potential testers with requests from paying customers. It is easy to sign up, and the teaser is UserTesting pays $10 for 15-20 minutes of your time, and therefore a tester will earn a solid $30/hour. But, it's not quite that simple.
]]>https://techsparx.com/lifestyle/make-money-online/usertesting.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/lifestyle/make-money-online/usertesting.htmlWed, 14 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/mac-razor-egpu.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/mac-razor-egpu.htmlTue, 13 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/11/amazon-hq2.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/11/amazon-hq2.htmlTue, 13 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMTIn October, Apple finally released the upgraded Mac Mini and early reviews suggest it is a powerhouse. Computationally, that is, thanks to a 6 core Core i7 CPU, but graphics-wise it isn't so hot. While the graphics chip is perfectly usable for every day use, it isn't enough for those with high-end graphics needs such as videographers. But, the port selection on the back of the 2018 Mac Mini means you can integrate an external GPU (eGPU) unit to drive high-end graphics cards.
]]>https://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mac-mini-reviews.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mac-mini-reviews.htmlMon, 12 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMTIn October, Apple finally released the upgraded Mac Mini and one leading feature is that we can again upgrade the memory. That we cannot upgrade the storage is sad, but at least we can upgrade the memory. However the picture Apple showed - that we can easily get in and change the memory - is a lie. The innards (once you open the case) look nothing like this, and upgrading the memory requires a near-complete disassembly.
]]>https://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mac-mini-lies.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mac-mini-lies.htmlThu, 08 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/mid-season.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/mid-season.htmlThu, 08 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/new-friends.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/new-friends.htmlWed, 07 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMTMany of us like Apple's hardware but not the operating system, and prefer to run Linux or even Windows. Yeah, it's a little crazy to pay a premium price for the hardware just to run some other operating system, that's how good Apple's hardware is. It's been discovered the 2018 Mac Mini has hardware to prohibit booting unapproved operating systems.
]]>https://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mac-mini-linux.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mac-mini-linux.htmlTue, 06 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/khanna-upgrade-univs.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/11/khanna-upgrade-univs.htmlMon, 05 Nov 2018 08:00:00 GMTUsing 2nd factor authentication with online accounts, like PayPal, can keep you and your money safe. A criminal might crack your PayPal password, but logging in requires a second thing like your cell phone, the criminal is stopped cold. "Second Factor Authentication" simply means requiring a second query, like sending a text message to your cell phone, to verify the person logging in is actually you. But what if you cannot receive a text message? Reading text messages while traveling in another country is tricky. What if you need to access an online account, like PayPal, but are locked out by being unable to answer the 2nd factor authorization step?
]]>https://techsparx.com/lifestyle/travel/identity/paypal-abroad.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/lifestyle/travel/identity/paypal-abroad.htmlSat, 03 Nov 2018 07:00:00 GMTLast week Apple unveiled a second round of updated machines, including the long-awaited update to the Mac Mini. While the upgrade is much appreciated, and one can easily upgrade memory, and it has a huge bump in processor capability, the 2018 Mac Mini simply is not what Apple needed to deliver. Intel's NUC is still far and away a better implementation of what the Mac Mini should be. Plus the Intel NUC is less than half the cost.
]]>https://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mini-upgrade-2018.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/mini-upgrade-2018.htmlTue, 30 Oct 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/10/macos-kext.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/10/macos-kext.htmlSat, 13 Oct 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/10/dod-weapons-cybersecurity.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/10/dod-weapons-cybersecurity.htmlThu, 11 Oct 2018 07:00:00 GMTOpen Invention Network, a multi-company patent pool that is protecting Linux.
]]>https://techsparx.com/news/2018/10/microsoft-open-source-patents.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/10/microsoft-open-source-patents.htmlThu, 11 Oct 2018 07:00:00 GMTToday New Yorker magazine posted a long article revisiting a semi-obscure detail in the Trump-Russia-Conspiracy story. Late in the 2016 election cycle news broke that Trump Campaign servers had been communicating through an arcane channel with servers owned by Alpha Bank. Alpha Bank is closely connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies, and has been tied to Russian Oligarch money laundering activities. This communication is regularly referenced as part of the curious connections between the Trump Campaign and Putin cronies.

A year ago this site ran a story looking into the details, and finding it inconclusive. The story is based on studies of DNS query traffic, and not of actual traffic. A DNS query is made whenever software needs the IP address for a remote computer. The source for the story seemingly had access to query logs for a set of prominent DNS servers, but because they cannot have had query logs for all DNS servers any report they made would be limited. They claimed to have seen a curious pattern of DNS queries between a set of servers owned by Alpha Bank, the Trump Organization, and Spectrum Health (a company connected to the DeVos family).

The new article covers the same territory, and claims to have studied the issue more closely.

The video attached here is a fascinating look at not only getting into an iPhone 7 and making modifications, but the hardware development environment in the Chinese electronics markets. We get to see Scotty taking apart and reassembling an iPhone 7 several times, testing and debugging, and finally getting the thing to work. Plus, we get to see Scotty negotiating with Chinese hardware developers.

The big result is that Scotty is making available kits at http://strangeparts.com/wireless

]]>https://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/iphone/iphone-7-wireless-charging.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/iphone/iphone-7-wireless-charging.htmlFri, 24 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-05/jovanka-airlines.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-05/jovanka-airlines.htmlFri, 24 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/08/facebook-fuels-anti-refugee.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/news/2018/08/facebook-fuels-anti-refugee.htmlTue, 21 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMTshadow banning" Conservatives (making it harder algorithmically to find them). The whole thing could just be a smoke screen to divert attention from something else Republicans are planning to do, or it could be leading up to outright attacks on the social media networks and an attempt at regulation.
]]>https://techsparx.com/social-media-warfare/hate-speech/trump-conservatives.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/social-media-warfare/hate-speech/trump-conservatives.htmlTue, 21 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/08/facebook-inflates-advertising.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/08/facebook-inflates-advertising.htmlSun, 19 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMTa twitter tirade by Pres. Trump. Therefore it is rich in irony that Rep. Kevin McCarthy posted a series of tweets last week complaining about this, ending with supposed PROOF of Twitter shadow banning. Except ... it was due to his account settings.
]]>https://techsparx.com/social-media-warfare/moderation/not-shadow-banned.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/social-media-warfare/moderation/not-shadow-banned.htmlSun, 19 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/howto/webpack-json-mime.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/howto/webpack-json-mime.htmlThu, 02 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/howto/webpack-css-loader.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/howto/webpack-css-loader.htmlThu, 02 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/electron/file-browser-component.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/electron/file-browser-component.htmlMon, 30 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTshadow banning conservatives, making it harder for folks to find conservative points of view. Supposedly on Twitter prominent Republicans do not show up in search suggestions -- the dropdown appearing while you type a search request -- while equally prominent Democrats do show up. This is according to the Republicans who are raising the stink. Twitter has responded saying it was a bug, that they've now fixed. But, what is Shadow Banning, and how do we determine if Shadow Banning is happening?
]]>https://techsparx.com/social-media-warfare/moderation/shadow-banning.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/social-media-warfare/moderation/shadow-banning.htmlThu, 26 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTa simple Markdown editor in Vue.js/Electron - and while the sample application did not show a file-system tree a full version of the application would do so. We use this sort of widget all the time in programs and web applications, but do you know how to implement such a widget? Speaking for myself I could probably work it out - it's nested UL and LI elements with some custom styling and whatnot - but I'd rather use a pre-baked tree component for Vue.js instead. The application shown here demonstrates using one such tree component.
]]>https://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/tree-items/index.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/tree-items/index.htmlThu, 26 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTReact and Vue.js are very popular front-end application frameworks. One might think either one is the best and only way to develop the front end of an application. Lots of folks will tell you, use React because it's the best framework, while others are flocking to Vue.js because whatever. A few years ago The MEAN Stack (Mongo-Express-Node-Angular) was all the rage, and now The MERN Stack (Mongo-Express-React-Node) is taking its place. Is it therefore ridiculous folly to skip using any front end framework? Or to skip using one of the popular choices?
]]>https://techsparx.com/nodejs/front-end/ok-no-framework.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/nodejs/front-end/ok-no-framework.htmlThu, 26 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-01/aztecs.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-01/aztecs.htmlWed, 25 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-13/jodi-matt-13.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-13/jodi-matt-13.htmlMon, 23 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-03/the-three-doctors.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-03/the-three-doctors.htmlSun, 22 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTNew Faces ... New Worlds .... New Times... leaving us wondering if this meant no old villians like the Daleks or Cybermen. In the Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con, Chibnall suggested there would be no Daleks this year. Instead the management wants the show to be as accessible as possible. Given the predicted backlash against a female Doctor, this may possibly be to offset any loss of viewership. Chibnall says the show is striving to be the most inclusive show on TV, but is likely to miss out on the chance to show a female Doctor with her female Wife (because ... New Faces, therefore no River Song).]]>https://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/2018-no-daleks.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/2018-no-daleks.htmlSun, 22 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTNew Faces ... New Worlds .... New Times... leaves us scratching our heads. No Daleks? No Cybermen? Just what the Doctor Who team means by this will be revealed when the season starts being aired this fall. In the meantime we're left clutching at hints from Comic-Con 2018. One take-away from the video is that while Moffatt's era was an orgy of the return of classic Who Villians (like the Mondasian Cybermen), the new team doesn't want to get hung up on classic villians and wants to start fresh.]]>https://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/2018-all-new.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/2018-all-new.htmlSat, 21 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/list-items/index.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/list-items/index.htmlSat, 21 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMT we want to study form validation. That example includes a little form in which we enter some information, and we want a little bit of validation to make sure we don't add bad entries.
]]>https://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/list-items/form-validation.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/list-items/form-validation.htmlSat, 21 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-13/doctor-13-comicon-2018.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-13/doctor-13-comicon-2018.htmlSat, 21 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/getting-started/index.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/software-development/vue-js/getting-started/index.htmlFri, 20 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/example-phishing.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/example-phishing.htmlFri, 20 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/linux-sbc/nas/helios4.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/linux-sbc/nas/helios4.htmlThu, 19 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/trailer-second.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/trailer-second.htmlThu, 19 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTKey To Time season when Lalla Ward was first brought into Doctor Who, as one of the characters in an episode. Next thing we knew Romana 1 had changed her body and became Romana 2, played by Lalla Ward. This documentary discusses a change in Producers from Phillipe Hinchcliffe to Graham Williams, as a reaction to complaints about violence in Doctor Who. Apparently the Hinchcliffe era was thought to be too filled with horror, and BBC management engaged in a form of censorship.
]]>https://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-04/matter-of-time-documentary.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/doctor-04/matter-of-time-documentary.htmlMon, 16 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTThe Universe is Calling, and a few character snippets of each. The two guys are loners who seem to like hanging out at the same Chips place, while the young girl likes to hang out with friends and eat pizza. ]]>https://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/trailer-first.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/doctor-who/2018-season/trailer-first.htmlMon, 16 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/guccifer-2.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/guccifer-2.htmlMon, 16 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/russia-hack-2016-election.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/russia-hack-2016-election.htmlSat, 14 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMTThe 2014/2015 Mac Mini is still, in 2018, the "current" Mac Mini model, and its biggest problem is the great difficulty to upgrade the device. While it is impossible to replace the memory it is possible to replace the hard drive, so long as you bought the upgradeable Mac Mini. Namely the version sold with an HDD. The other, with PCIe SSD, does not support upgrading the disk. You can save some money by purchasing the HDD version and upgrading to SSD on your own, however performance is higher with the PCIe version. The videos attached to this post document the overly unnecessarily difficult process for upgrading such Mac Mini's to have an SSD. You have to remove everything just to swap the disk? And you can't change the memory? The Intel NUC is in the same class of machine, and does not require this kind of over-the-top surgery.
]]>https://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/upgrade-mac/mac-mini-2014-disk-upgrade.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/computer-hardware/apple/upgrade-mac/mac-mini-2014-disk-upgrade.htmlFri, 13 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMThttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/apple-updates-macbook-pro.htmlhttps://techsparx.com/blog/2018/07/apple-updates-macbook-pro.htmlThu, 12 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMT